Tech job losses may not be so bad this time

In the Silver Lining Department, a CNet News.com report notes that despite high-profile layoffs at some technology firms, job losses in the sector are “unlikely to be as deep or as lasting” as they were during the dot-com bust, according to government statistics and employment experts.

One big difference is that employers aren’t “spending like drunken sailors” this time out:

Call it learning from past mistakes: tech companies haven’t experienced the hiring binge that occurred in the late 1990s, when a combination of Internet investment, repair work on older computer systems to deal with Y2K transition issues, and massive investment in telecommunications infrastructure teamed to create double-digit tech employment growth through much of the second half of that decade.

By comparison, the Web 2.0 boom during the past few years–led by companies such as Facebook–has been more like a “boomlet.” While there are an estimated 5,000 Web 2.0 companies, many of them are tiny garage shops. There are no hard figures on how many people are employed in these little companies, but it’s doubtful the total is equal to even a tenth of the 386,000-employee workforce at tech giant IBM.

Despite enthusiasm for social-networking sites and other new technologies, neither Silicon Valley nor other big tech hubs have seen a massive increase in hiring in the past few years. Even well-known Web 2.0 companies like Digg and Slide are relatively sleek little outfits that didn’t need a lot of money or a lot of people to get off the ground.